New €5 Ryanair charge as check-in desks scrapped
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RYANAIR is now going to charge you for doing all the work of checking in yourself.
The airline is abolishing airport check-in from October -- but will shortly introduce a new €5 per person web check-in fee for the privilege of checking in online and printing your own boarding card.
The new charge will add €50 to the cost of a family holiday for five people, on the basis of €5 per person for each flight there and back for all new bookings made from May 1 onwards.
It will even apply to babies under two who travel on their parents' laps and are usually exempt from extra charges imposed by airlines.
And there is no legal barrier to it, as long as Ryanair makes its costs transparent and upfront, the Department of Transport said.
Consumer bodies described the new impositions as "the straw that could break the camel's back" in terms of driving customers away from Ryanair.
Difficulties
They also pointed out it could cause severe difficulties for elderly passengers, people trying to check in while abroad, and anyone whose printer malfunctioned.
The only way to avoid the charge is by availing of one of Ryanair's special offer promotional flight prices advertised at the front of their website.
Ryanair said that around 100 jobs would be cut at Irish airports as a result of doing away with airport check-in, and they will end their contracts with check-in service agents in European airports, saving themselves millions in the process.
Spokesman Stephen McNamara defended the decision to charge customers who are now forced to check in at home and print their own boarding cards.
"We are providing them with the facility to check in online. Websites don't build themselves you know," he said.
The Consumers Association of Ireland slated the move, which chief executive Dermott Jewell said was just outrageous and possibly even worse than their suggested toilet charge.
"This might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, it will drive a lot of people away and it is fraught with problems," he said.
The Commission for Aviation Regulation also felt it might be the final straw for consumers but said they did not have a role in adjudicating on the legality of such charges.
There could be chaos as there was a certain demographic who would find it very difficult to check in online, and all kinds of disputes could arise where boarding cards had not printed out and people were denied the right to board, a spokesman for the commission said.
Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said that where customers had made a genuine attempt to check in online but were unable to print their boarding card properly they could go to a Ryanair desk and staff would trace their details in the computer.
The 100 check-in staff who will lose their jobs at Dublin Airport will be able to reapply for other jobs with the airline, but they will not get an automatic right to transfer or any redundancy payment, Mr McNamara said.
The move comes less than a fortnight after the airline announced it was considering introducing a charge for using the toilets on its planes.
The National Consumer Agency said that, while there was no legal barrier, "the move is not in the best interests of consumers".
- Aideen Sheehan Consumer Correspondent
